Wisconsin hospital closes its urgent care to focus on COVID-19 emergency room care
A Wisconsin hospital announced it will temporarily close its urgent care facility so the staff can assist in the emergency room.
"At this time, urgent care is the only service being temporarily closed," a hospital spokesman told sister station WISN. "This is because our urgent care staff is well-trained to help take care of emergency patients."
The announcement was made Monday morning on Facebook.
"We will continue to re-evaluate this temporary change so we can make sure we are providing our community with the level of care they need," the post said.
"I think the whole hospital is understaffed. My wife is on the third floor," said Curtiss Buss, whose wife is hospitalized. "I believe a lot of the nurses I've talked to on the floor, a lot of them, are floating nurses — come from other cities. I guess they go where they're needed."
The Facebook post garnered several questions from users.
"Due to a significant and sustained rise in Emergency Department patients (COVID and non-COVID related), we are temporarily reallocating resources from Urgent Care to the Emergency Department to help treat these patients in a more timely manner," the hospital wrote.
Since the beginning of September, the Department of Health Services reported a 15% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in central Wisconsin.
"Our Emergency Department volumes have increased by over 50% during the last month plus, and that is why we are reallocating staff to this department," one hospital post explained.
Some Facebook users asked if the staffing shortage was due to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for hospital staff.
"At this time, we are still strongly encouraging and supporting all of our staff to become fully vaccinated, but it is not a requirement," the hospital said.
It's not clear how many hospital staff members have chosen to receive the vaccine.
The state also reported nearly 91% of hospital beds were occupied. The number of intensive care beds in use in central Wisconsin was 93%.
The hospital said anyone who went to the emergency room for care would be billed accordingly.
In a statement to WISN Tuesday afternoon, the medical center said, "The increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in our community is a major factor for this change and COVID-19 continues to be a serious threat to our community."
The hospital also encouraged all residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
It is not known when the urgent care will reopen.